Archive for September, 2009

“UBuild has assisted me in developing 2 high-quality houses in the Glen Alpine area of Sydney.

Prior to commencement Barry (Managing Director) explained the answers to all my questions and concerns. Consequently, we built the relationship based on trust and mutual understanding. Barry was always ready to help me, provided fast service and delivery. I’ve been very impressed with his knowledge of the industry and drew from it during the construction process. We communicated via phone, fax, and e-mail. Barry also came twice to inspect the progress and provided hands on assistance required at the time. Every promise Barry made has been met. I have taken the opportunity to recommend Barry and his team to all my friends.

Working with UBuild was a great pleasure. I would recommend Barry to anyone who’s planning to build a new dream home in the future.”

Hi there, this is Barry from UBuild Homes and in case you didnt catch the title I’ll say it again: Trust No One!

If you are planning on building a home then you need to take extreme care. As an Owner Builder you must take precautionary steps to manage your risks.

My intent is not to bag the construction industry, and as someone who has operated in the insdustry for over 40 years as a licensed builder, I think I can talk with experience. Putting trust in unprofessional people in the residential construction industry can hurt. In addition, these are difficult times which puts added pressure on the builders and trades who are out there quoting for work – many doing so without systems or proper training.

The problem is: it is so difficult to differentiate between professional and unprofessional conduct.

I’m not talking about dishonest people. There are plenty of those types in every industry and we all need to guard against the sharks out there. What I’m talking now is dealing with trades and builders who simply don’t use good, professional systems to quote, and who then create a disastrous outcome for you as a result.

Unfortunately, this happens too many times. The general public puts their faith in so called industry experts only to find their hard earned cash vanish into thin air. Please allow me to share a recent example:

A couple that came to UBuild Homes recently were very distraught. From the outset this couple had no intention of Owner Building. They had engaged a builder to do a quote for them to build their home. They accepted the quote. Unfortunately, the quote lacked detail and was poorly put together. The couple trusted the builder and thought he knew what he was doing. Just prior to signing the contract the couple made some changes to the plan. Nothing too dramatic – but then the builder used this opportunity as an excuse to lift the contract amount by as much as 100k. In other words he exposed his unprofessional conduct. It was very obvious the builder under quoted the job in the first place and so waited for the right opportunity to adjust the pricing in his favour!

Now, legally he is within his right to do this. But morally it is wrong. And unfortunately, happens all too often – and not just on large projects but small ones too. Owner Builders often recount similar stories of conflicts with a variety of trades because of the exact same process.

In the end the couple had to walk away from the builder. Due to the cost blow out and the resulting bad experience they then turned to Owner Building and today they are now UBuild Homes’ customers and moving forward.

The same couple also had a very poor outcome with their drafting service. Again the reason was trust. They simply assumed that the drafting service would be professional and knowledgable about the planning requirements. They were not, and this resulted in further costs and anguish.

Now let me say this: Neither the builder or the drafting service provider in question are bad people or what you would call ‘shonky’. They were just unprofessional due to a lack of skill, training and experience. This is what commonly happens in the building industry and it creates problems for customers.

It’s vital that if you are building a house through a builder, or are planning to owner build, you get educated. Don’t fall into the trap of trusting that others will always do the right thing. Learn to spot the difference between professional and unprofessional behaviour. Be vigilant, check everything, question everything. This knowledge and questioning might just be one of the biggest investments you will ever make!

There has been cause for concern over the number of Kit Home companies that are in financial trouble and the number of customers and Owner Builders that have been adversely affected by this.

In particular, if you had a chance to read the recent article in the Bundaberg Newspaper about an Owner Builder losing money with a kit home company that went broke, and basically the Owner Builder having no protection under any warranty legislation. When you have a moment check out the article:

First of all the UBuild mantra for Owner Builders should be: Trust No One. The Building and Construction Industry is an extremely volatile and difficult industry and whether you are owner building or not, you should be extremely careful with every transaction. Ensure that you have good written contracts in place and that you manage your risks very carefully.

Kit Home Companies should not go broke! It’s that simple. Kit Home Companies go broke because their parent company or their manufacturing company goes broke. Any Kit Home Company that manages their own manufacturing or that is owned by a building company is a risk because they need to feed the beast, and so all revenue goes back into ensuring cash flow for the parent and partner company.

As a potential customer/Owner Builder you should be asking the following questions of a prospective Kit Home Supplier:

Do you operate solely as a Kit Home Company or are you a building company with a division that is a Kit Home Supplier?

Do you own the suppliers you put the kits together from? ie The Frame and Truss Manufacturing (Steel or Timber), the Window Manufacturing Company, etc?

If the answer to these questions is “Yes” then you are at risk because these businesses require large amounts of cash flow to keep them going. Your kit home deposits go into that pool of cash flow.

A Kit Home Company should be cash flow positive. In other words they should be using their buying power to source the Kit Home Package for the client at the best possible price by ensuring that good suppliers are competing against each other for the business of that Kit Home Supplier. Kit Home Suppliers should then be flexible and customer driven in their ability to manage the needs of the customer in terms of product and finance.

UBuild cannot comment in detail about the Warranty Insurance issues raised in the Bundaberg Newspaper article, except to say that in every state the Home Warranty Insurance process is different – and that it is a mess. The fact that there is on ongoing Federal Government enquiry into Home Warranty Insurance is a testament to that fact.

The bottom line is that customers should not lose money dealing with Kit Home Companies. These companies, if properly managed, should be service focused, flexible, wholesale building material supply companies. If they are involved in other businesses then you, as a potential customer, are at risk.

Please check out a recent article on the Owner Builder Advice site about a real customer who was rescued from a difficult situation because of the inherent flexibility in the UBuild Kit Homes process:

Visit a Sustainable House in your area. What a great idea if you are thinking of Owner Building!

Remember that Owner Building a Kit Home can and should be sustainable… you simply need some ideas and good advice.

On National Sustainable House Day, Sunday 13th September over 170 private sustainable homes around Australia will open their doors to the public. This is a fantastic opportunity to learn about sustainable living from homeowners who have been there, done that, and whose experiences are real. You can the bet there will be a few genuine Owner Builders amongst them.

For the first time, homes will open for free this year thanks to the support of the Australian Government. It’s paving a way for people seeking to make their own homes or rental properties greener.

Home Sustainability Assessors funded through the Australian Government’s Green Loans program will also be available to discuss the range of energy efficiency actions that people can take around the home.

At UBuild Homes we are very focused on helping our Kit Home customers implement sustainable solutions when owner building their home. We can do this because Matthew Last, one of our Building Customer Managers is a Building Thermal Performance Assessor and a Home Sustainability Assessor. Matthew is also a Member of ABSA (Australian Association of Building Sustainability Assessors).

For home locations around Australia and for more detail on the features of individual homes visit Sustainable House Day.